Hand-printing guide



(No Model.)

L.K.SC0TP0RDfw HAND PRINTING GUIDE.

No. 548,226. Patented 00 t. 22, '1895.

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LOIIIs K. scorrono, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIs.

HAND-PRINTING GUIDE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 548,226, dated October 22, 1895. .Ipprcaion nea May 1o, 1894. serai No. 510,766. (No man.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI', LOUIsK. SOOTFORD, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Hand-Printing Guides; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in type-guides for securing the proper spacing and alignment of the letters and words when printing by hand by means of individual type.

The object of the invention is to provide an improved construction in devices of the character referred to; and it consists in the matters hereinafter set forth, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a top plan view of a type-guiding device embodying my invention in one form. Fig. 2 is a transverse section thereof, taken on line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the slide in the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. Fig. et is a bottom plan view of the slide alone. Fig. 5 is a detail of a construction of groove and engaging-liange somewhat modified from that previously shown.

In said drawings, A designates a guidingstrip adapted to be placed upon the surface to be printed, andB ametallic slide mounted upon said strip A and capable of longitudinal motion relatively thereto. As herein shown, the guide-strip A is made in the form'of an ordinary straight ruler provided in its upper surface or top a with one or more longitudi-y nal grooves or saw-kerfs, in this instance two in number and designated by a and a2. The slide B, as herein shown, comprises a flat body portion vor web b, provided along its rear edge with a depending iange b', adapted to enter and slide within either of the grooves ct a2, and along its front edge with a second depending flange b2, to which a forwardlyprojecting arm b3 is rigidly attached. The width of the intermediate web b is made greater than the distance between the rearmost groove a and the front edge o3 of the guide-strip, so that when the rear iiange b" is inserted in either of the grooves the front iiange b2 will depend in front of said front edge 0.3 of the guide-strip and the under sur= face of lthe web will rest upon the top a of .distance between the grooves a' and 0.2.

said strip. A projecting knob or handle b4 is 55 herein shown on the top of the slide to facilitate the handling of the same.

C designates one of a font of individual type, in this instance made with a wooden body c and a rubber printing or type surface 6a c', the wooden body being shaped at its upper end to form a handle portion c2, adapted to be grasped between the fingers. The body c of the type is made rectangular in crosssection, and is thereby adapted to it within the corner formed at the juncture of the front flange b2 of the slide B with the forwardly-proj ectin g arm b3 thereof. Obviously, therefore, by so thrusting each type as it is used into the corner of the front iange and 7o arm and moving the slide along the proper distance after making the impression of each letter, a correct alignment and spacing of the resulting print may readily be secured. Ordinarily the slide B will be placed with the rear flange b in the rear groove a', but whenever it is desired to print a letter above the usual line the clip will be lifted and replaced with its iiange b in the forward groove a2,as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. l and more 8o clearly shown in Fig. 3. Obviously, an impression made by a type placed against the front iiange b2 of the clip when in this position will be raised above the line of the impressions made when the clipl is engaged with the rear groove a by a distance equal to the The type C (indicated in dotted linesin Fig. l) as employed for thus printing above the usual line will ordinarily be smaller than the usual 9o type C, and are more particularly designed for printing abbreviation and index characters.

As a means of enabling the slide B to be readily held against movement upon the 9 v guide-strip during the making of each impression, each of the grooves a and d2 is made to incline slightly forward toward its bottom relatively to the plane of the ange b Aof the slide. (See Figs. 2 and 3.) With this conzoo struction the flange b will Obviously bind in the groove when pressed down rmly upon the guide-strip, and thus prevent theslide from being easily moved. When, however, the front of the Slide is raised slightly, the ro5 planes of the ange and groove are made to coincide, thereby releasing the frictional engagement between them and enabling the slide to be easily moved. Such relative incliiiation of the flange and grooves may obviously be provided either by placing the fiange at right angles to the web b and sawing the grooves on a slight inclination from the perpendicular, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, or by sawing the grooves in squarely and inclining the flange b to the necessary degree, as shown in Fig. 5. The underlying principle is the same in either case, however, and I consider both constructions within the scope ot' my invention.

The slide B itself, as herein shown, is con` veniently made by bending down the edges of a rectangular piece of sheet metal to form the. flanges b and b2 and then riveting to the latter flange a second piece bent to an inverted- U shape and forming the arm b5. The handle b4 may be secured to the web b by riveting or otherwise. Obviously, however, the` specific construction of the slide, aside from the features to which attention has been directed, is of minor importance and may be varied as desired. l

The particular shape or configuration of the front edge a3 of the guide-strip is not material, since the type are never brought into contact with it, but engage front flange b2 of the` slide instead, and since the flange Z7? itself is supported and guided entirely independently of said front edge a3. As herein shown, however, said edge in cross-section is made in the form of an overhanging reverse curve, and is consequently adapted to serve; as a suitable guide for a ruling-pen, the necessity of turning the guide-strip over to enable such pen to be used without danger of the ink run,- ning or blotting along its edge being thereby obviated.

For the purpose of?` enabling the slide tobe instantly set at any desired distance from the center or ends, the guide-strip A is provided with a graduated scale d4, extending from end to end thereof, such scale being in this instance marked upon the rear edge of the strip, which is shown as beveled in the same manner as an ordinary ruler. The divisions a5 of the scale a4, instead of being consecutively numbered from end to end, as in an ordinary ruler, are numbered from the middle division toward each end, or, as herein shown, from l to 8, starting from the middle or zero point. The number of divisions, however, will obviously depend upon their length and the length of thestrip A, upon which the scale is placed. Each of the divisions d5 is itself divided into subdivisions a6, in this instance eight in number, though either more or less may be employed, as desired. v c

Preferably the divisions r1.5 will be` of inch lengths and the subdivisions eighth inches. The subdivision lines marking the halves and quarters are also desirably differentiated in length from the others in the usual manner to facilitate the reading of distances on the scale.

The object of thus numbering the scale dil punctuation-marks narrower ones. of type of reduced size, such as the type C', fthe width of the type would be proportionately reduced, but would still be made in mull tiples of the subdivison.

visions from the 'center toward each end of the strip is to enable the operator to readily determine where to begin a line of a given number of words orother characters in order to have the end letters of the line equally distant from the side edges of the sheet upon which it is printed, or, in other Words, in order that the printed line, when finished, will stand in the middle of the sheet. To the same endthe body or block o of each of the type C is made of a width equal to some multiplebf the subdivions a of the scale, the specific multiple varying according as the natural shape` of the letter or sign requires a broader or narrower type, but being always an exact multiple. For example, the E -type illustrated is made five-eighths of an 4inch,and most of the letters of the same font would be made of this width. Obviously,

however, the B/ i and "VV would naturally require wider types, and the I and the In a font The widths of the types being thus accurately known it is obvious that the length of the proposed line ot' printing may be readily determined by stimmDg up the` total width of all the YIJGS required to print the letters forming the line and adding thereto the necessary allowance for the spaces between the words" of the line ifit includes more than one word. When the length of the proposed line has been ascertained in the manner described, the guidestrip A is placed across the sheet S to be printed, and centered with relation thereto by being moved endwise until the scale-readings are the same at each of the two side` edges of the sheet. The slide Bis then moved to the left of the center of the guide-strip a distance equal to one-,halt the ascertained length of the proposed line, measured by the scale a4, and considering the right-.hand side of the arm b3 as the index-point. Saidl right side ot' the slide-arm b3 will then obviously mark the beginning of the printed line-z'. e., the left-hand edge of the first letter thereofand by moving the slide along after printing each letter a distance equal to the width ot thetype just used and allowing the predetermined spaces between Words it is obvious that the line will terminate just as far to the right ofthe center as its beginning was to the left thereof, or, in other words, the line will be placed exactly in the center ot the sheet.

For example, let` it be assumed that the words Lowest prices areto form one of the lines to be printed with a font of upper-case or capital-letter types similar to the type C illustrated. Assuming the ten types besides the W and l types as five-eighths wide each,the W type as seven-eighths, and the I type as two-eighths, and allowing threeeighths for the space between the words, the total length ot' the line will obviously be sixty- ICO TIO

two eightlis or sixty-two of the subdivisions a6. The slide B is therefore moved to the left of the center of the guide-strip until the righthand side of its arm b3 registers three and seven-eighths, (one-half of sixty-two eighths,) the guide-strip being itself centered on the sheet S by so placing it that the side edges s of the sheet register alike on the scale, (four and three-quarters, for example, in Fig. l L.) The printing is then proceeded with in an obvious manner by thrusting each type in its order into the corner formed by the right# hand side of the arm b'and the front flange b2, and then making the impression therewith. As each letter is printed the slide B is moved to the-right a distance equal to the width of the preceding type. Such distance may be practically determined without reference to the scale by simply moving said slide until the right-hand side of its arm b3 stands above the right-hand edge of the letter just previously printed. The slide will thus be moved tive-eighths after each of the letters except the W and I has been printed, seveneighths after the W, and two-eighths after the 1. An extra movement of three-eighths will also be given the slide after the T to allow for the spacebetween the words. This distance may be measured by the scale, but as a convenient construction in this connection the arm b3 is in this instance made of approximately the Width of the desired space between words, so that moving the scale until the lefthand side of its arm ha stands above the right-hand edge of the last letter of a word determines the position of the first letterof the next word. The correct space between letters is secured by making the letter or printing face c ofthe type slightly narrower than the width of its block or body c, as in ordinary cast printing-type, so that the edge of the impression will necessarily be a slight distance in from the edge of the typeblock.

`As a result of the procedure described, it will be obvious that the final letter S of the line will necessarily be printed as far to the right of the center of the sheet as the lir'st letter L is to the left thereof, so that the line as a whole is placed centrally upon the sheet without its having been necessary for the operator to pay any attention to its prospective termination afterlocatiug its commencement.

The width of each of the several types of each font may for convenience be marked upon the type themselves, as shown at cB in Fig. l, and a complete list of the widths is desirably placed upon the inside of the cover or on some other suitable part of the box in which they are packed. Obviously, however, the operator would readily remember the widths after using the type a short time, and could, moreover, readily determine the width of any type concerning which he has any doubt by measuring it upon the scale.

The construction of straight-edge or ruler shown, in which the divisions of the scale are numbered from the middle toward each end, may be found useful in other connections than that hereinbefore set forth, and is accordingly claimed separately therefrom as well as in connection therewith.

I claim as my :invention- 1. A type guide for hand printing comprising a guide strip provided in its top surface with a longitudinal guide groove, and a slide provided with a flange adapted to enter said groove, the lower edge of one side of said flange being normally engaged with the adjacent side of the groove and the upper edge of the opposite side of the flange with the opposite side of the groove, whereby the slide is held against movement by friction when resting in its normal position, and type engaging surfaces on said flange arranged parallel with and at an angle to said guide strip, substantially as described.

2. A type guide for hand printing with types of different sizes, comprising a guide strip provided on its upper surface with two longitudinal grooves, having parallel side walls and arranged parallel with each other, and a slide provided at its front and rear edges with depending lianges located at a distance apart as great or greater than the distance between the side edge of the guide strip and the groove which is located at the greatest distance therefrom; the ange at the rear edge of the slide being adapted to engage both sides of thegrooves of the guide strip and the flange at the outer edge of the slide having a type-v engaging arm which projects therefrom atan angle with the said flange, substantially as described.

3. A type guide comprising a guide strip provided in its upper surface with a longitudinal groove and a slide provided with a grooveengaging flange and with type-engaging surfaces parallel with and at an angle to the said groove, the plane of the said groove being slightly inclined to the plane of the iange which enters the same, whereby the slide will be held from movement when its outer edge is depressed, substantially as described.

At. A type guide comprising a guide strip provided in its upper surface with alongitudinal groove and a slide comprising a metal plate having depending flanges on its opposite edges, one of which flanges is adapted to engage the grooves in the guide strip and provided also with a type-engaging arm which projects from the forward flange of said slide, the said groove being inclined relatively to the ange which engages the same, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LOUIS K. SCOTFORD. Witnesses:

C. CLARENCE POOLE, TAYLOR E. BROWN.

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